Seamus Heaney, Liam O’flynn

The
Poet And The Piper

Claddagh CCT21CD; 58 minutes; 2003

The simplest ideas are often the most effective and so it
goes with this wondrous combination of Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney and
Ireland’s most renowned uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn. No modern poet has been
more capable of evoking and exploring the resonance of time and place than
Heaney and here he proves just how effective and expressive he is as a reader
of his own verse too. In turn, O’Flynn has previously demonstrated his
remarkable abilities as a musical interpreter on works such as Shaun Davey’s The
Brendan Voyage and his own solo albums like The Piper’s Call.

The opening track announces their mutual presences as Heaney
reads The Given Note concerning the composition of a new tune on the
Blasket Islands which gradually segues into O’Flynn’s rendition of an air once
popular on that long-deserted outpost, Port na bPúcái. The remainder
sees a marked definition between the duo, Heaney reciting one or a couple of
poems, then O’Flynn providing a musical interlude which complements the verses
and simultaneously acts as a mode of clearance for the poet to begin again.
Only once is there a smack of artifice when Heaney’s work The Yellow Bittern
is followed by the tune of the same name (Irish tune titles are almost entirely
labelling devices not denotations).

However, despite its enduring impact and the overall warmth
of its production, the participants in this album (who also include Stephen
Cooney on guitar and Rod McVey on harmonium) are ill served by the atrociously
designed liner. Ciaran Carson’s own evocative essay is marred by numerous
typographical errors and its effectiveness emasculated by the use of a white
font against inappropriate background colours – but don’t let that deter you
from buying the album!